Curse
by BML Hillen-Keene
Summary: Ayame, Shigure and Hatori try to find out how to stop a curse that is going to kill one of them.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: Don't own, unfortunately._

_This is a pure AU, and I apologise for using the characters in this horrid way! Well, not really, ha! Firstly, they are not Sohma's as such, and the curse is not the zodiac curse, but I promise it's not that bad, just give it a go and review when your done, please. I'll update as soon as I can._

Curse

_Day 1_

Aya told me the weirdest thing today. It gave me the greatest idea for a story, but for some reason I just can't seem to write it. It would be easier to give you a sample of it, to let you understand;

_She knew there was someone following her, she just didn't know who, or why. Why anyone would be following her she couldn't fathom. But it was dark out, that could have been the reason-bad things happened after dark... She shrieked suddenly as a hand came to rest on her shoulder, spinning her around. She found herself staring up and into dark eyes that glittered in the reflected light of the moon. She heard the whisper of his breath as his mouth descended upon hers._

Definitely not up to my usual par-usually I can write pages of stuff without even thinking! Where's the suspense? The lust? The love? The angst of a broken heart? Why can't I just write the damn thing?

Maybe it's because Aya told me about it, but usually when he inspires me it's good. So why can't I write it now? Yeah, I know, I know, your getting confused. Perhaps I should try explaining some things here.

First of all Aya, or Ayame as his parents named him, is my best friend, and has been for a long, long time. Since we were three or something. He's one of those boys that's _always_ going to be good looking. I kid you not, he'll probably end up a highly paid model some day-or an actor. I would envy him, but I have my writing to bring me fame-and it will, trust me. Anyway, he has this really long hair that he loves way too much. I'm surprised his dad hasn't made him shave the whole thing off-he might have, if he cared enough.

My other best friend is Hatori, he's always so serious all the time-he wants to be a doctor, I just don't understand what that has to do with him not having fun. Aya and I take great pride in annoying him, flirting all the time-not that Hari's homophobic mind-but it drives him crazy all our over the top antics. Aya won't admit it, but he has the biggest crush on Hari, has had for years. It's too perfect to watch sometimes-great inspiration though. The girl (Aya) trying so hard to win the heart of the serious and stoic man (Hari), but he has so much trouble accepting love.

Perfect smut.

I would have helped get them together, but I've never really been sure about which way Hari swings. So I haven't mentioned it. But things have been getting a little weird with Aya lately. He's gotten more withdrawn, less-exuberant. keeps looking over his shoulder like he's expecting something to happen.

Which brings me to the reason I'm explaining all this to begin with. Aya said something today in school, something strange. Hari doesn't believe him, and I figured it would turn into a great story. But thinking about it... well, it's just that it's not like Aya to be that..._ raw_ with us.

Here's what happened.

"Hey! Aya!" I yelled, waving over to him.

He smiled brightly and bounced over to where Hari and I were sitting on the outside benches for lunch. He sat down beside me, shooting his 100 watt smile at me. "Hey Shi-can, Tori-san.!" he said.

"What's got you so happy this afternoon?" Hatori asked, frowning at him, like he always did when he saw Aya had no lunch with him (did I mention he's a major worry-wart?)

Aya shrugged. "i passed my science test, the last time I did that was... how many years ago?" he asked wonderingly. "Three or four years at least." he reached across the table to take some of Hari's biscuits. "Call's for a celebration don't you think?" he grinned again.

Hari shook his head with a sigh, but he was smiling as he pushed the rest of the biscuits across the table to him-like he always did. He always took extra because Aya never took lunch. We knew why-even if he denied it.

Like he always did when we were eating lunch, Aya played with his hair, pulling it over his shoulder and braiding and un-braiding it. I was going to ask him a question when I saw the marks. Dark bruises on the side of his neck. I glanced at Hari. He had seen them too.

"Hey Aya." I said in a half whisper.

"Yes Shi-chan?" he asked, oblivious to what he had revealed.

"What happened to your neck?" I asked.

His hands dropped from his hair and he shook it out, immediately letting it hide the marks.

"Was it him again?" Hari asked, his voice calm, but angry at the same time-I don't know how he does it, I've tried, believe me, and I can't manage it.

Aya shook his head. "Dad doesn't hurt me guys." he said quietly.

We'd had this conversation one too many times before. We knew right well it was his father who was responsible for his bruised cheek, the angry looking scar on his arm, and on a far more regular basis, the black marks on his neck. He had admitted it to us once how he got them. I think he thinks we were too drunk to remember it (need I say we are seventeen-do you really think we'd pass up the chance if it came?)

I could just imagine what it was like.

_"When I say get down to the basement I mean get your bastard ass down to the basement!" his father hissed angrily, his fingers squeezing painfully into the sides of his neck._

_Ayame struggled-he hated the basement, he always had, it was always so cold and dark. When he was down there he didn't know when he'd get back out. But his fathers grip was too strong. He was only succeeding in hurting himself more._

_"Dad please, come on-I haven't done anything!" he pleaded._

_The pressure increased as he was forced forward to the basement. "Don't talk back to me you little freak!" his father spat angrily, flinging him through the doorway._

_Ayame stumbled down the steps a little way before catching himself as the door slammed closed and the lock snapped in place. He sat down heavily on the steps and shivered. Wondering how he was going to explain the marks to his friends the next day._

"He didn't!" Aya insisted, pulling me out of my imagined going's on. "At least not this time." he admitted.

That got me, Aya never admitted his father hurt him, we knew, but he never admitted, except for that one time. Hari snorted, he didn't believe a word, he had patched Aya up one to many times in the past to believe him.

"The who did it?" I asked.

"Can I tell you guy's something?" he asked, his voice losing it's confidence, like it usually did when he asked us to do anything for him, it was like he expected us to say no.

I nodded.

"Lately I've had the feeling someone's following me." he said. "Not the good kind of following, and yesterday-after school when I was going home someone grabbed me, a guy, all cloaked and hooded and he started pulling me somewhere…" he trailed off, his eyes trained on Hari.

I glanced at our stoic friend to find him frowning at Aya.

"Ayame, that is the worst story you have ever come up with to explain the marks."

Aya stared at him, eyes wide. Then he seemed to shrink in his seat, twisting his hair round a finger. "I knew you wouldn't believe me." he murmured. "But it's true."

"someone in a cloak? Honestly Aya, I think your getting mugged story was better than that. Leave the story making up to Shigure, do yourself a favour and just admit it was your father!" Hari said, letting his anger seep into his voice, he hated the way Ayame just accepted what he got.

Aya got up, he stood for a moment, staring at Hari. "Dad didn't do this. The guy who's been following me for the past two weeks did. I'm not lying, but if you don't believe me-fine!" he turned and flounced off.

Aya's the only person I know who can 'flounce' and not look stupid, I don't know how he does it.

"Honestly, he could just tell the truth!" Hari complained. "He knows we know, so why does he keep pretending?"

I shrugged, I knew it was because he needed to have an illusion, because if he admitted to what his father did it would be real. He needed to pretend it wasn't. but it was no use telling Hari that, he just didn't understand.

But just because I understood didn't mean I accepted Aya's story, I was as convinced as Hari that his father had made the marks. But that stuff about a stalker-now that had given me an idea.

Which leads me to my current predicament, sitting in my room, writing about what happened today instead of a hormonally charged smut story like I should have been doing.

But now that I think about it. It is a bit weird.


	2. Chapter 2

_Found an error right at the start that doesn't fit in with chapter 3, so I changed it. that's really it, everything else is as it was. However, if anyone wishes to beta it be my guest because I am notoriously crap at spelling and grammer!_

_Day 2_

Right, things have gotten really weird now. I'm just back from a very long evening at the library. remember how I wrote yesterday about how Aya told us he had a stalker? Yeah? Well… God, this is just so-weird! I mean… I can't even begin to explain it, I can hardly make sense of it. I know what I saw, but I…

A frig it, I'll do what I did yesterday, maybe I'll hit inspiration and work out what's going on.

Okay, so this day began.

it was your average, typical day, myself and Hatori were waiting at the edge of the village/town, I'm not really sure if it's big enough to be classed a town, but we do have a secondary school. But anyway, we were waiting for Aya, like we always did, his house was a fair distance away, about an hours walk, so we waited for him.

He came up to us, beaming and happy, like our conversation yesterday never happened, he was always like that. Where there were people would hold a grudge as long as your arm, Aya would be back and cheerful within minutes.

It was just the way he was.

So we met him, he was al bubbly and happy again, but I noticed he kept looking over his shoulder, and sometimes he looked about to say something, but then his eyes fell on Hari and he said nothing. That annoyed me, if he thought something would annoy Hari he'd say absolutely nothing. He was such a contradictory person.

Everything went fine, until lunch, when Hari asked Aya why he kept looking over at the line of trees just outside the gates of the school.

"He's there." he said quietly.

I looked over, immediately curious, but I couldn't see anyone, and neither could Hari by the sounds of it.

"Is he invisible? Ayame, there's nobody there. What is wrong with you?" Hari asked suspiciously.

I scanned the tree line once more-still nothing, before looking back.

Aya frowned. "He's there. Right there-beside the gates!"

"Ayame stop it!" Hatori snapped. "What is wrong with you lately? If its your father would you just-"

"It's not dad! Damnit Hari-the guys standing right there! Would you just look!"

So Hari looked. Because Aya never lost his temper like that.

Nothing.

"May be your seeing things." I suggested.

He turned his pleading green eyes on me. "Gure-san, I'm not-he's right there-you've got to believe me!"

Finally Hari lost all patience. "Stop it Ayame! There's no one there. Now tell us what's going on. Or don't you trust us? Your friends?"

Damn he pulled the friends Card, Aya always caved under that, he'd stop his stories, but he still hadn't told us about his father-go figure on that one.

"But I'm telling the truth!" he looked helplessly between us. "I-" he stopped, looked at the ground and scuffed his foot. "Fine." he said quietly, and he turned and walked away.

I stared after him until heard Hari sit down heavily beside me.

"I thought for sure that would work-what is wrong with him?" he asked me, understandably seeing as I was the best friend of the aforementioned 'him'.

Unfortunately I didn't have an answer. Aya was acting scarily out of character, he took his stories to some weird levels, but never anything like this. I was intending to ask him about it, to get it out of him when Hari wasn't around to set him off, but every class I shared with him he was sitting with someone else on the opposite side of the room to me. It was something so completely un-Ayame, that I was worried. When he did sit beside me he was off and talking about something, and I couldn't bring the subject up. He was pretending it hadn't happened again.

Finally I gave up on talking to him at school, intending to get him afterwards, when the three of us walked home together. We all lived outside of the village, Aya lived a long way off, Myself and Hari lived fairly close to each other and closer to the village. However, if I had to invite myself over to Aya's for the afternoon I was going to find out exactly what was wrong with him.

As I said, it was worrying behaviour.

Except that we were all in different classes at the end of the day, and Aya wasn't waiting by the gates for us, and he wasn't still in school. Which meant he had started walking home without us. After a quick conference Hatori and I decided to follow him-There was something wrong, really wrong, and we wanted to know what. So we made our way towards the edge of the village, and continued on up the path Aya took home everyday, hoping to catch him before he reached home.

We were lucky enough that he seemed to be making his way home slowly, we caught him up when he was about fifteen minutes from home.

"Aya!" I yelled. I shared a look with Hari when he didn't turn. I didn't like that he wasn't answering, as I said before, it's just not like him, he doesn't hold grudges, or refuse to speak to you, he just pretends like conversations never happened. Something was really wrong, even the way he was walking. When Hari nodded we both quickened our pace, only to stop in shock two seconds later.

In my moment of distraction Ayame had suddenly changed positions, he was struggling with thin air. He was at the old overgrown iron wrought gates, and he seemed to be loosing to his invisible assailant. I have to confess, I was shocked. Here was my best friend, struggling and fighting with nothing.

"Aya!" Hari yelled, I think he was hoping to startle him out of this game.

It startled him all right, he turned his head and a moment later he was jerked forward. I blinked, and just for a second I thought I saw something, a shadowy house on the hill. I blinked again and it was gone, but now there was a shadow jerking roughly on Aya, forcing him to his feet.

Hari jerked past me, instinctively I chased him, the figure had disappeared from my sight, but I knew it wasn't gone. As we neared, Aya collapsed forward, catching himself on his hands, he was gasping painfully.

"Aya?" I heard Hari ask softly.

I looked towards the hill, to where the house had been, I could imagine the figure standing, just inside the gates, glaring at us. I shivered and turned to find Aya had caught my arm and was trying to pull me back. When we were back on the road, and Aya had dragged us a sufficient distance from the gates, he stopped and turned to us. I didn't like the look in his eyes and the way Hari stiffened I knew he didn't either.

"Thanks." he said, a hesitant smile on his lips.

"For what?" I asked.

"Just thanks."

Hari reached out to take his wrist. He hissed and pulled back. Hari's eyes narrowed and he stepped closer and pulled up the sleeve.

"Shit!" I murmured, I had never seen Aya with bruises like those before.

He pulled away, pushing his sleeve down, he looked so small when he lowered his head, fidgeting with the ends of his jumper. He looked like he was expecting us to yell at him, or maybe even hit him. For a moment I hated his father, sure Aya had always been like this, always avoided the problem with us, I think he always thought we would do what his parents do, hurt him and ignore him.

I cut Hari off before he could speak. He might have meant the best, but Aya always clammed u if we went on about his bruises. "Was that… thing… shadow-whatever… was that…?" I asked.

Aya frowned. "That was the guy I told you about." he glanced back past us-he seemed to be able to see what I couldn't perfectly-he was probably trying to work out what I found shadowy. "He's standing by the gate." he shivered.

Hari looked back. "I can't see him."

Aya looked at him, eyes wide and confused. "But he's standing right…" he trailed off. "You honestly can't see him?"

I looked back, just to make sure. "No, I can't see anything." I told him softly, Hari nodded.

"Then… then why…?" he looked so confused, he stared behind us at where I assume he could see the shadow thing. He swallowed and turned. "Can we go?" he asked, his voice strained.

So we went, back to Aya's house, his mother made the customary attempt at welcome, she asked him how his day had been, something that would have been avoided I'm sure, if we hadn't been there. Aya answered quickly and quietly before leading us up to his room.

"You honestly couldn't see him?" he asked as soon as he shut the door. "You swear you couldn't see him?" he sounded a bit panicked.

"Relax Ayame." Hari said, pushing him lightly towards his desk chair. "We couldn't see him."

"Then I'm going crazy." Aya declared. "I'm going completely insane! I mean, I could see him! He was right there, he was trying to drag me somewhere! To that house!" he stopped suddenly. "Did you see the house?" he asked.

I started. "Emm… I saw something like a house for a second."

"Really? So the house wasn't just my imagination. I've never seen it before, I mean, I have, but I could never remember it being there before, but I couldn't be sure. And then that guy showed up, but maybe I was just seeing things, I don't know… how come it hurt so damn much if it was something that wasn't there?" he asked, in a rush, working himself into a state.

Why did he automatically think he was wrong?

"What if there was something there." I said.

Hari glared at me, but he had seen something, he must have, I may have an overactive imagination, but I don't see things that aren't there, and neither, for the most part, does Aya.

"Well what if there was? What if it's something we just can't explain?" I defended. "I mean, you saw Aya-there was no way he's that good an actor Hari."

Hari looked at me, and to Aya, who was watching us, confused as hell and not knowing what to think. Everything for him hinged on what Hari said, because Hari was always right as far as Aya was concerned (I have mentioned he has a crush on him right? Did I also mention he's just a teensy bit obsessed with getting Hari's approval-even if it means saying he's wrong), if Hari said it was all in his head, then Aya would accept it. But it wasn't, it couldn't be. Because I had seen something-and I knew it wasn't all in my head.

"Your right." Hari proclaimed finally, looking very thoughtful.

"So what was it then? If you two couldn't see him? A ghost? And why was it trying to get me up to that house?"

"Ghost house." I corrected, and I thought about it. "I think first port of call is finding out about that house. If there are ghosts they're usually connected to a place, so we should start with the place. There's bound to be tons of stuff on an old house way out here, there can't have been many." I said finally.

You see, the problem with ghost stories, is that people panic and rush headlong into things that could have been avoided and a lot less people would end up dead if they took the time to research before hand. And as I have absolutely no intentions of dying I am going to find out what is going on before something happens…

I feel the need to pause for a moment here-you may be wondering why I am suddenly talking about ghost stories and people dying, but really-no matter what Hari seems to think there is no way there can be a logical explanation. I mean it was a shadow thing! Where is the logic in that? And maybe it's my creative nature, but really, how can I not think there's something ghostly going on.

Anyway, back to the day.

So, we decided to go to the library to have a look for some books-Hari wasn't convinced, that much was very obvious, but he agreed after I pulled him aside and told him to at least try, for Aya's sake-because if we came up with something, anything, it would set Aya's mind at ease, or it would at least explain what was going on.

We met Aya's dad on the way down the stairs.

"Ayame-I need to speak with you a moment." he said, taking hold of Aya's arm.

Hari tensed beside me, I knew he wanted to say something, probably the same thing I wanted to say, but Aya just nodded wordlessly.

"I'll be down in a minute." he told us quietly.

Knowing we'd make it worse if we didn't go on downstairs and wait outside now, I grabbed Hari's arm and pulled him down and outside the house, nodding to Aya's mum as we passed.

"Damnit!" Hari said viciously, a tone he only ever reserved for Aya's father. "I really want to call him on it!"

I shrugged. "We can't-it'll be worse for Aya, he'll think he told and God knows what he'd do then."

Hari sighed. "I know-I know. I just hope he doesn't keep him in now."

"To much effort to do that-unless he's done something really obvious." I said.

We waited, my mind conjuring up a few scenes of what was going on between Aya and his father.

"_Ayame." his fathers voice was harsh, it always was when he dared to bring his friends home. But technically it wasn't his fault, he hadn't asked them to come…_

"_Yes dad?" he responded meekly, knowing there was no use in arguing, especially if he wanted to get out of the house to go with Shigure and Hatori, he knew that._

_His fathers eyes narrowed and he studied him. "What have I told you about bringing those people round to our home?" it was made a question, and was said in a deceptively calm voice. "Well, I want an answer and I want one now. You realise you've put your mother out, now she wil have to invite them over for dinner. Did you even stop to consider the trouble that would have caused?"_

_Aya swallowed slowly. "Em… I--" he didn't see the hand snap out, and barely felt the sting as his head snapped to the side. One hand crept up to his cheek and he blinked quickly to get rid of the tears that would most likely earn him another slap._

"_Did you consider, yes or no. it's a simple answer."_

"_No sir." Aya answered quietly._

_His father smirked. "I didn't think so. Get out of my sight!"_

_Aya glanced to the door and started to edge his way round his father to get to it. He tensed when his fathers fingers wrapped round his wrist, pressing the bruises in. "Yes father?" he asked, hoping he wouldn't be kept in._

_His wrist was released, and he turned away from the smirk on his fathers face, not liking it. He got to the door without further challenge and slipped out. His hand returning to his cheek. How could he explain this one away? _

Aya bounced out of the house five minutes later, smiling, moving round so fast that he was making it difficult to see the reddening mark on his face.

"Aya." Hari said as we started walking, his tone making Aya stop bouncing immediately, knowing what the question was going to be, which wouldn't be hard given the way Hari was looking at it. "What happened your face?"

"Bashed the kitchen door." he said fluidly.

Hari's mouth thinned but he didn't say anything else.

So off to the library we went, and we found something real interesting…


	3. Chapter 3

_Forgive the oddness of this chapter, I seem to be going whereever the characters wish to take me. so, read, reveiw and enjoy. This isn't going to be a particularaly long story, no more than four or five days if your lucky, so by any luck I'll have it finished by next week some time. Now, get reading!_

_Day 2-Cont._

The library was practically empty by the time we got to it, and we got a really weird look from the librarian. I'm sure it was not I she found strange to be here, after all, I normally come in for research. Just never with Hatori and Ayame. I blame them! At any rate we were rather unhindered and a little overwhelmed when we reached the archive section.

"Where do we start?" Aya asked, his voice dropped into a hushed whisper.

"In the most logical place." Hari replied.

Where, in all this, was the logic I wonder? "The house--we can find out about the house." I said brightly. "Aya, you take the computer, Hari, you take the newspaper thingy and I'll hit the books."

Aya looked t Hari before nodding and making his way over to the computers. Hari stayed longer, watching him.

"Don't like that he's not acting normal eh?" I asked him, quirking an eyebrow.

Hari looked at me, his eyes brow raised. "Yes, he admitted reluctantly.

"Still don't believe all this?" I knew he didn't, but it wasn't something I think he could afford not to believe.

"No," he shook his head. "No--but he believes it. And sometimes a person can create things like this. It's been known t happen, when they suffer abuse and stuff."

I sighed, for Hari everything always had to have some kind of rational explanation. "That's not it Hari, and you know it. Whatever its is, it's after Aya, that much was obvious. We both saw it…" I trailed off, because if Hari didn't want to believe he wouldn't. but Aya needed someone o believe what was happening.

Hari sighed and headed towards the newspaper thing.

I turned towards the books.

Two hours later I was rather rudely disturbed by Hari when the library was closing. I had just found a book, one that delved into the ghosts and such like of our town from it was first built. Historically, or so the title proclaimed, I wouldn't know until I read it. So I took it with me, unwilling to pass it up.

"Well?" I asked as we made our way through the darkening street.

"There was a house there, it burned down hundreds of years ago thought." Aya said, holding out a short printout from the internet. "There wasn't much else n it."

"I found a bit more." Hari said. "The newspaper at the time said it was the owner of the house who set fire to it, killing himself, his wife and his youngest child."

"Did it give a name?" I pestered, seeing that he was hiding something.

Hari nodded, eyes flicking to Ayame for a moment. "the families name was Sohma, the town father."

Ayame looked up at him in shock. "Sohma?" he questioned.

Hari nodded gravely.

"I don't understand." Aya said.

I grabbed his arm, pulling him close enough to sling mine over his shoulders. "Neither do we. But don't worry, we'll figure it out." I told him, giving him a brief hug before I looked back at Hari. "Did it say why he set fire to it?"

"No, they questioned the elder son about it, but he said he didn't know." Hari shook his head and sighed. "What about you Shigure?"

I shrugged, hefting the book up. "Nothing really." I sighed. "But I have some more reading to do. We'll have to meet up tomorrow and keep looking."

Aya looked at me. "Guys-really, it's fine--you don't have to." he told us. "Really." it was nearly pleading.

"We're going to." I was surprised to hear Hari say. "Whatever that thing was, it was trying t hurt you Aya." he must have been doing some serious thinking earlier, and I was glad to hear it. "We're going to find out what's going on."

Aya sighed, a sigh I absolutely hated, because it just meant he was about to say something disparaging abut himself. "Aya," I said, cutting him off as he opened his mouth. "We don't like it when you get hurt, so get used to it, we're doing this n matter what." his mouth snapped shut and he looked at me, confused. Like he had never heard words like that before. I kept my anger at his idiot family inside. "Now, come on, I'll walk you home."

"No," Hari stepped in. "You have some more reading to do. I'll walk him home."

Aya blinked at Hari, which was perfectly understandable, after all, Hari never offered to walk Aya home, ever. Maybe there was hope for them yet. At any rate, I did have some more reading to do, and some things to ponder on. So I left them and went home.

Which is where I am right now--slightly calmer at any rate. Now, I did do some reading--and the story I found--the only one that connects in any way to shadowy cloaked figures following Aya about and a ghost house…

Here's what I have so far.

Aya's ancestor from many hundreds of years ago set up a little town and built a huge house outside it, supposedly he also set up a kind of dark arts cult thing, according to the old story/legend. But then something happened his wife, he went crazy and set fire to the house, killing the cult and his family. Since then the house has been seen occasionally, and a cloaked figure occasionally spotted around descendants of the town father.

It's a weird story.

There's a picture of the wife here--real pretty, I would blame the guy for going a bit crazy if something had happened to her. Like maybe the cult killed her, then he killed them. So now they're seeking revenge on Aya… but why now? And why Aya?

Hmm… at any rate, I think I'd better get some sleep. I hope Harry got Aya home ok.

_He stalked down the ornately done corridor, angry beyond words, beyond screams, beyond thoughts. Only feeling ruled his head. The dark gothic design of the house lay heavily on him, making this feelings darker. Rage warred with worry, anger with concern. Because the cult had gathered, without his word. Had gathered in the lowest regions of the house, for a purpose f great darkness. One that they had not felt the need to inform him of. One that he would not stand for._

_They had taken his wife, lured her into the depths of the house, down to the black alter, for what purpose he did not no, but feared. And so he stalked, through the winding corridors of his house, towards the rooms below where the cult had gathered to make their dark magic. If they hurt her, if they dared. For he knew some of them watched her, coveted her. He would kill them. He was leader of this dark world under his home, and they had no right to even think about his wife._

_He reached the door, carved with faces, and shoved it open, it hit the wall with a rebounding thud and he moved down the stairs. There were chants, the chant of death. His heart filled with rage. If they had touched her they would die, if they had dared. He emerged from an archway to find them, shrouded in their black cloaks, clinging to the shadows cast by the flickering candles, circling, surrounding…_

_He let out a cry of pure rage, pure pain, pure agony when he saw her, in the centre of a circle of candles, with her lifeblood running across the stone floor. The chanting stopped, and all eyes turned to him. But he could see nothing but his wife. He threw those who tried to stop him reaching her away, ignoring their screams as their robes set on fire when they stumbled back over the candles, ignoring the chaos that erupted as the fire spread and roared around him._

_He stumbled to his knees beside his wife, holding her close to him, cradling her lifeless body to his. _

"_My Lord!"_

_He turned cold eyes towards the man who croached beside him. "I wish nothing more than for you to die for what you have done!" he said, his voice like ice. And he looked for the first time at the carnage around him, and he did not care._

_The man snarled. "We did it for you my Lord!" _

"_You took my wife from me! May you remain forever cursed to carry that burden!"_

"_It is not we who are cursed!" The robed man told him._

_His eyes flashed, the fire sparking in his eyes. "Then I curse you. You shall never be free of it! Never!" he said, drawing his wife closer. "You shall never be free so long as my blood flows in those who come after me."_

_He looked back into the eyes of his wife… they would suffer for eternity for this crime._


	4. Chapter 4

_Ummm... right, Day 3. this will also be split into two parts. Things get very very interesting from here on in, with just a subtle hint of romance... well, Shigure would like it if there was some. But, I suppose prehaps the situation does not allow for it. Anyway. I hope you all enjoy. And if you like Ayame, I will be posting a cute fic very soon! All about him as a... can't give too much away._

_Read, reveiw and Enjoy._

_Day 3_

I'm not entirely sure whether today has been productive or not, there was something. But I'm still not sure. Damn I hate this! Something is seriously messed up somewhere. Sure, I figure that if someone killed my wife, and I killed them, their ghost's might hang around looking for revenge, but I just can't make any sense of it. At all. I mean, I know the information, we found a hell of a lot today, but I just… sigh… I'm sighing… yes, I am aware I am writing that I'm sighing! Damn! Right. Explain, explain, explain.

You know, if this wasn't so serious I could use it as a great story.

Damn. It's just not fair, Why the hell did it have to happen to Aya? It's not like he ever deserved it. It's not like he ever deserved any of it. I remember a time when Aya had been ok at home. When we were much younger. His parents only seemed to start ignoring him when he started school, and it just got worse from then on. And when his little brother was born when we were ten things went downhill a lot. I don't know what it is that made it happen, I don't think it was anything Aya did, but I've seen how his parents treat Yuki when they come to town, or on the rare occasions we're allowed out to the house, and it's not how I ever remember Aya being treated, by the time he was seven he had started coming into school with bruises.

Right, right, sorry. I know, tell it as it happened. Right… hmm.

I went to Hari's house early, I wanted to tell him what I'd found out and for us to go out to get Aya, it didn't feel right letting him walk in by himself, anything could have happened. What I really didn't expect was for Aya to already be there, in Hari's kitchen, looking very much the worse for wear.

"Aya?" I asked, sitting the book down on the table, Hari always left the kitchen door open for us when he was in the house by himself.

Aya turned to me with a small smile. "Hey." he greeted.

"What happened?" I asked, looking him over quickly, he had a cut on his forehead, a small one, but one non the less, the bruises round his neck were darker and he had a long cut up his arm that Hari was bandaging. He looked exhausted, absolutely exhausted.

"Decided to walk here himself instead of waiting for one of us. Like I told him to last night." Hari growled.

Aya looked down. "Couldn't." he said quietly.

Hari's face softened slightly. "I know." he looked over at me. "Sit down Shigure, Aya can tell you while I finish this." he turned towards his first aid kit. That little box had seen a lot of use over the years we had been friends.

I looked to Aya for an explanation.

He hesitated. "Last night…" he stopped and thought for a minute. "It was awful…" if he'd been acting normal that would have been said overdramatically, with much bouncing, hugging and over the top crying and everything. The fact that it was said in such a small, tired and almost scared voice wasn't good. Wasn't good at all.

"Tell me." I pleaded, worried.

_Ayame had woken from another of those dreams, the one's he didn't understand. They had plagued him for weeks, if he really thought about it, which he tended to do when he woke up in the dark of his sparse little room, he could admit that these dreams had followed him his whole life. He could remember having them when he was younger. But they just kept coming now. Night after night._

_He stifled a sigh and shifted in the bed, he had to move or he would never get back to sleep, he turned over to face the door and froze._

_It was here, in his house, in his doorway! Watching him. Biting back a whimper, he moved back. "Dad?" he asked, hoping it was only his father, even if it meant he was going to be punished for whatever reason his father had concocted this time. Just so long as it wasn't that cloaked man._

_The figure in the doorway chuckled before it turned and left._

_Aya remained there, frozen. Did that mean it had been his father? Did it? Or was the cloaked ghost whatever it was playing with him? Suddenly every sound seemed to get louder as an irrational fear rose up inside him. Or maybe not so irrational…_

_He jerked up into a sitting position when he heard the sound of cloth scraping the wood of his floor. His eyes darted around the room desperately, searching. His attention landed on his curtains, blowing slightly, rustling along the floor as they did. Ayame shivered as he watched it move. He had just forgotten to close the window, that was all._

_That was all._

_He tried to push off the feeling that he was being watched, putting it down to his overactive imagination, like he had been doing for the past two weeks, and longer if he was completely honest with himself. Which he rarely was. He shoved the blankets down around his legs and inched out of the bed, taking a quick glance round, to assure himself there was no one else in the room._

_He darted quickly over to the curtains and pushed them aside, intent on shutting the window and getting into bed as soon as possible. It would probably make the room warmer too. Except the window wasn't open. Aya stepped back, staring at the window. He wanted to get back into bed, curl up and pretend like this was all just a dream._

_Cold fingers curled round his neck underneath his hair and he froze. "Dad?" he asked, trying to turn to look, hoping it was his father, but the fingers tightened and he stopped, eyes screwing up slightly as the coldness suddenly spread. "Dad…?" he asked again, voice barely a whisper, almost begging._

_There was no response but the hand at his neck forcing him forwards to the window until he was practically pressed against it. He tried to pull back, but a push that made his head hit the little metal lock on the window stopped him. He blinked at the pain, and felt something wet run down his head, and he didn't think it was water somehow._

_His eyes widened though when he focused on the outside. "No!" he tried to cry out, but only a squeak made itself known and he pushed back, the fingers dropped away, letting him stumble back he fell and scrambled back until his back came in contact with the bed. He looked round the room again. There was nothing there. He reached up and behind him to grab the mattress. When he had it he turned slowly until he could see the other side of the room. Nothing._

_He wished Shigure and Hatori were here._

_Some kind of chanting was starting outside, all those shadows outside were chanting. Like the chanting in his dream. He turned back and sat on the cold floor, staring at the window, straining his ears to hear if the cloaked man was back._

_The night passed slowly, and he jumped at every shadow, every sound. The second that dawn broke the chanting stopped, or maybe it had stopped before that, he couldn't remember, all he knew was that he didn't want to be here anymore. He wanted to be with Shigure and Hatori, and he wanted to be with them now! Without stopping to think he made a dash for his wardrobe and changed into the first thing he could find before he raced out of the house, stopping just long enough to make sure the robed figures were gone._

_It wasn't until he was almost at the iron wrought gates and the house that he started to feel eyes on him. He glanced round, worried and scared. He didn't expect anything to happen so quickly, and was powerless to stop it when he was dragged towards the gates. By the time he had the thought to react he was already at the gate. Desperately he grabbed for the gate railings, clinging to one of them. "No!" he cried. He fought and he struggled until he felt the hands let him go. He didn't stop to gather himself he just ran until he reached the town. It was then he realised his forehead was bleeding again, and that his arm was throbbing, and bleeding itself._

"_Hari." he mumbled and turned n the direction of Hari's house, avoiding looking behind him where he knew the cloaked man watched him still._

I looked at Aya, I had collapsed into one of the kitchen seats as he told me what had happened. I looked at Hari helplessly. "Aya…" I said helplessly. I could think of nothing more to say. These things really were out to hurt him. It had to be that cult I read about yesterday, that was all I could think. If Aya's great, great, great, great grandfather or whatever he was, had killed them… if they were real… Shit!

Hari looked at me, I could see he was feeling as helpless as I was.

"I'm sorry." Aya whispered.

"It's not your fault Aya. We're going to find out what's going on." Hari told him firmly.

"B… but…" Aya began.

"But nothing!" I said, slamming the book I had carried over on the table. "I found an old story about ghosts that follow people, the story about that house." I opened the book on that page that I had found the story on. I explained the story quickly, before something Aya had said filtered back into my thoughts, and I stopped and turned to him. "Aya, you said you'd had a dream. What kind of dream? Can you remember what it was about?"

Aya looked at me and thought about it for a moment before he nodded slowly. "It was just like a jumble of images really," he said, tone apologetic. " chanting, robed figures," his eyes lost focus as he thought. "doors closing and the house burning. I never dreamed that bit before, so it's just my mind making things up, right?" he asked quietly.

I watched his eyes slide over to the kitchen window for a moment before he looked back at me and Hari. I also looked at Hari. "We have a lot more research to do." I told them bluntly. "We start with Aya's family and this cult thing. We need to know everything about it. Absolutely everything."

"How will that help 'Gure?" Aya asked me quietly.

"We know what we're dealing with." Hari answered for me.

"Oh." Aya said. He reached over the table and pulled the book across, head cocking to the side as he read it, frowning slightly when he looked at the picture, like there was something about it he couldn't quite understand. "She's very pretty." he said finally.

Aya had stopped searching over an hour ago, claiming his head was starting to hurt. he had been staring at the picture of his however many great's grandmothers picture, that same small frown from earlier on his face. how did I know all this? well, quite simply because I was watching him. I had trawled through seven books since this morning, searching for anything even remotely related. a book on how to stop ghosts from hurting Aya would have been most welcome. but of course there wasn't one. Hatori had disappeared half an hour ago--probably to stop himself from asking (for the thirtieth time I might add--what, so I was counting--sue me!), if he was alright. I think Aya's slight nod and silent acceptance of it was what drove him off before he yelled.

Hell, I wanted to yell at Aya sometimes. you have no idea what it's like to be best friends with someone, who, if you, say, stole the guy he seriously liked away from him (not that I would ever do that to him, but you get the idea) he would just take it, smile and pretend like it was perfectly fine, perfectly normal. but that's not even the most annoying thing, it's how he'll get angry on your behalf over something he expects everyone else to overlook if it happened to him.

Case in point, when we were fourteen I was being bullied by an older guy in school because all I ever did was write, I never told anyone, I can't even remember why now, but I didn't, and I stopped writing for a while as well. Aya noticed immediately, he can be pretty perceptive at times. he had the whole story out of me in five minutes, and I've never seen him that angry. Hari didn't even try to stop him the next time that bully started on me. he literally dragged him halfway across the playground. I don't know what he said, his face kind of fell though when the guy said something back, but in the end he came back over to us.

"He won't bother you again 'Gure, I promise." he told me. we tried to ask him what the guy had said, because he was down for the rest of the day, I even offered to go punch the guy if he'd said anything really bad. Aya just laughed in his sparkling way and shook his head. "No, no, it's fine. he didn't say anything that wasn't already true." and his eyes slid to Hari who was oblivious as usual. And it tore me up. he never did let me or Hari go talk to the guy about it.

Everyone always sees him as selfish and self absorbed, and any number of their things. but he's not, not really anyway. it's just easier for him to pretend his problems don't exist. I watched Aya stare at the picture. Hari still nowhere to be seen.

The thump of books on the table we were working at broke both of us out of respective thoughts.

"I found some old journals." Hari intoned quietly, glancing to Aya, checking him over quickly to see if he was ok. I was going to have to have a talk with him about Aya sometime soon.

Aya reached over and took the first one off the pile. "Who by?" he asked.

"They're by an Akito Sohma." he said. "Either the son or grandson of the guy who burned down that house I think."

"Akito was my grandfathers name." Aya supplied helpfully, flicking through the pages and reading snatches. "This is by a woman though."

I grabbed one of the books. "Really?" I opened it.

He nodded. "Yep, definitely a woman."

"How do you know?" I asked, genuinely curious.

He looked over at me and smiled. "How many men do you know who write long, detailed accounts of their wedding nig?" he pushed his open book over to be.

I read the page quickly and my eyes widened. my god--this is practically porn I tell you! I shoved it towards Hatori, watching his reaction. he didn't even look shocked.

"Well, they had to express themselves somehow. but these could stillbe useful."

"Yeah, women notice things more anyway." I said, yanking the book back, I wanted this one. I started reading, right from the start this time. it was like a romance novel.

"Aya?" Hatori asked, gaining my attention. it isn't often he calls Ayame, Aya.

Aya's staring at that picture again. "What is it about that picture that bothers you so much?" I asked.

he tilted his head slowly. "I don't know 'Gure, just something…"

I frowned at Hari, who shrugged. there was no point trying to get him to read anymore, he'd be distracted until he worked out whatever it was he was trying to work out.

It was two hours later, and I was almost finished the first journal when Aya shoved his chair back harshly.

Worried I glanced round, not that I would be able to see the ghost anyway. "Aya?" I asked quietly.

"I have to go." he said, his eyes fixed on a spot near the book shelves.

"Aya!" I repeated.

"Just thought of something." he told me, finally looking at me. it wasn't the whole story, but it was as much as I was going to get.

"What?" Hari asked, raking Aya over quickly, like I was, he was worried.

He jabbed a finger at the picture. "I just remembered. there's a picture of my grandfather in our hall. he's wearing that chain."

I reached over and pulled the book towards be. Indeed the woman was wearing a gold link chain, very plain, nothing you would really take notice of.

"Are you sure?" Hatori asked, looking over my shoulder.

Aya deflated almost immediately and slumped into his seat. "No. I wanted to go home and check. But… it's just a just feeling, sorry."

I cringed inwardly. Great! Now he wouldn't make anymore contributions. Damn Hari! "let's go check." I said, closing the book I was reading slowly, after all, this was Aya's family, he was bound to recognise things better than me and Hari would. "It's the only way we'll know for sure." I cast Hari a significant look.

Hari seemed to realise his mistake. "Of course." he agreed.

Aya looked up. "You don't have to come.

I reached over and thwacked the side of his head, earning a confused look. "Have you forgotten the evil stalker ghosts?" I asked. I didn't know how much use we could really be if they decided to come get him in force, but thus far they seemed to keep their distance if he was with us.

His eyes slid over to that row of book shelves again and back to us. "No." he said quietly. "I haven't."

Hari reached over and took his arm, pulling him up and towards him. I almost held my breath, wondering if he would hug him maybe. He didn't. and I sighed softly in exasperation. Yes, Hari and I were going to have a long, long talk!

So, off to Aya's house we go…

_You guys curious yet? I hope so. I'm working on the next part, and the final couple of chapters after that. it shouldn't take too long. I hope! yikes! it's turning out to be longer than I expected it to be when i started it. Ah well._


	5. Chapter 5

_Ok, not my best chapter, but my computer has been acting up, so I got a bit frustrated when I kept having to re-write bits of it. And I am aware that I have prehaps forced some romance like stuff in there. if I have time I will go bac and smooth it all over, I just want to finish this story as soon as I can. It's been a long long time from I managed to finish one. I'll worry about everything else later. Read, reveiw and enjoy!_

_Day 3-cont_.

The walk was uneventful. It was nice and bright, nothing at all how you would think the weather would be when your best friend is being hunted by ghosts. We weren't alone though, that much was obvious by the way Aya kept glancing to our right and behind us. Making sure to stay between myself and Hari, not that we had any notion of putting him somewhere he could more easily be taken. What got to Hari I knew, was the fact that he couldn't see the ghosts, seeing is believing after all, but I was glad he trusted Ayame enough to accept that there was something there. I believed there was something. I wanted to know why I couldn't see the ghosts.

Passing the gates made Aya stiffen, and I watched, concerned as he gripped his injured arm tightly, like he was remembering what had happened this morning, trying almost to convince himself that it hadn't really. I put an arm round his waist and pulled him close to me. "Your fine Aya." I whispered.

He gave me a small smile before he lowered his head, hair hiding his face. "Sorry, I'm being stupid." his lips twitched into something that was an odd cross between a smile and a grimace. He glanced behind us again. "Let's go." he said, picking up his pace.

There was little Hari and I could than to follow him just as quickly.

There didn't appear to be anyone home when we got there. Aya let us in with a key he dug out of somewhere. Hari and I stood back and waited for him to search all the pictures on the hall wall until he found the one he seemed to want and called us over. We went. I flipped the book open to the page with the pretty lady on it. I looked at the wall, and stopped, there were a lot of pictures of old people on the wall.

"Where?" I asked.

Ayame smiled. "This one." his fingers hovered close to the glass over the portrait. " It was painted a few months before he died. Uncle told me." he said.

I studied the picture, searching for this gold chain Aya said he remembered. And indeed, his grandfather was wearing a gold chain, plain, unassuming. I held up the book with the picture in it beside the photo and we all frowned, trying to see the similarities.

"He could be wearing any kind of plain chain." Hari pointed out.

"It wasn't the fashion back then to wear Jewellery, well, not for someone that old." I countered. "It could have some significance. A family heirloom maybe?" I looked to Ayame for confirmation.

He looked to be deep in thought, a scary thing for Aya to ever be in. "Uncle said something about that chain…" he frowned deeply, his forehead furrowing as he tried to remember. He closed his eyes, obviously trying to visualise it. "It was some family gathering, I was only… eleven, twelve?" he paused for a second. "He was drunk, and he took me out to look at the picture… because granddad had died just before I'd been born, maybe a few days or something. He said something about that chain, that's why I remember it…" he fell silent for a long moment before opening his eyes and looking at the picture. "But I can't remember what he said."

"It's ok Aya, just take your time. If you rush it you might never remember." I told him with a small smile.

He looked over at me and he seemed almost relieved at my suggestion. The look of relief left his face almost immediately and his eyes widened. I felt Hari turn to look behind us, and couldn't stop myself from following suit, even though I probably wouldn't be able to see anything if I did. I blinked in surprise as the front door opened slowly, admitting Aya's parents and his younger brother, Yuki. I glanced back to Aya, catching Hari's expression, a mask of cool indifference, one that told me he was willing to say something if either parent dared do anything to Aya.

"Ayame!" Yuki called, with a cheery wave of a child who didn't really know what was going on his his own home.

"Yuki." Aya responded quietly, offering the slightest of smiles.

His parents were hardly so inviting, and they didn't even bother to hide it like they normally did. "Where have you been?" his father asked. Now, it could merely have been the tone of a father angry that one of his children disappeared early in the morning without a word, but I knew better. I had been taken in by the act for a while, much to my shame I'll admit, his was a tone that meant Aya would most likely end up with a few extra bruises.

"I… I was in town… at the library." Aya answered, I couldn't see him, but I knew he had that same look on his face he had had yesterday when we had stopped him getting dragged to that house. Damn I was going to get pissed, all of this was happening far too fast, and what we needed right now was some space away from Aya's controlling father, away from this house, away from this town!

"We were just heading back there now." Hatori said. "We have a school project we have to work on."

"Then by all means, don't let us stop you." Aya's father told us. "Ayame, however, will be staying here. He has some things to do around the house for me."

I didn't like that look in his eyes, and neither did Hari. I wanted nothing more than to drag Ayame out with me right then and there, let Hari say whatever he wanted to the asshole and go about saving Aya from these vengeful ghosts, or whatever they are.

Ok, I admit it. I'm getting majorly stressed by all of this, but can you really blame me? Firstly I find out my best friend is being stalked by ghost things, who it now seems wants to hurt him, possibly kill him. And now his father, who has been abusing him for years, suddenly starts acting like he doesn't care who knows he's about to hurt his eldest son again. Something is seriously not right here. And I just can't get my damn head round it! I need to know more!

Luckily for me, Hari seemed intent on remaining calm, and he put a hand on my arm, which broke me out of whatever kind of anger I had immersed myself in. "Of course Mr. Sohma. But might we speak with Ayame for just a moment about the project before we leave?" I looked at him, frowning. I didn't know what he was thinking of doing.

Aya's father shrugged, and the family continued into the living room.

"Hari?" Aya asked, drawing both of our attentions back to him. He was frowning slightly, and looking more than a little anxious, his eyes darting towards the living room. And yet he expected us not to notice something was up with his father? I wonder, I really do.

"Does your father know about this chain?" Hari asked, motioning the picture on the wall.

Aya blinked at the sudden question. "I… I suppose so." he stammered out after a moments thought.

Emotions swept across Hari's face for a split second, too fast for me to define any of them. "I hate to ask this at all." he sighed deeply. "Ask him about that chain. If you think it's important, if Steve thinks it's important. Then maybe it is. Ask him." he frowned to himself, he didn't like asking it, hell, I didn't like him asking it. "I'll come over early tomorrow to get you. We're going to fix this." And with that he was done, he turned away and headed towards the door.

Aya looked after him helplessly.

I offered a tiny smile of reassurance. "Just be careful Aya."

"I will." he answered softly. "You'd better go."

We were partway down the road, just a few minutes from that gate when I decided now was as good a time as any to have that talk with Hari, I needed something to calm me down a little or I would never be able to concentrate on reading. "Hari…" I started, trying to piece together my thoughts as best I could.

"Hm?" he asked, glancing at me.

"Do you like Aya?" Ok, so not the best start I'd ever made, but it was better than nothing.

He frowned at me, I couldn't see it because I was looking ahead at the hill I had seen that shadowy house on, but I knew he was frowning. "Of course I do." he answered.

I sighed, dragging m gaze back to him. "I don't mean as a friend Hari." I told him. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he didn't like where this conversation was going. But I had sat out and watched for years now as Aya's crush grew into something else… not love because that's just far to complex for a person like Aya to understand unless he's been shown it, but something else. It was about time I started meddling, watching Hari these last few days… it could have just been friendly concern that's true, but what if it was something more than that?

"I don't understand." he said stiffly.

I glanced at him and smiled slightly. "Yeah you do." I told him.

He sighed. "No Shigure, I don't. Explain."

"Do you _like_ him, Hari? It's not a hard question. The answer is either yes or no. If it's no I'll stop bothering you, but I need to know."

"Why?"

Why? Wasn't it blatantly obvious? Why couldn't he just give me a straight answer. "Because I do Hatori. For Aya."

"And why does Ayame need to know?"

I sighed. "Because Hari… just because…" I wished I could explain how much Aya admired him, looked up to him, wanted him. But I couldn't unless I knew. Because if I did and Hari got freaked Aya would be down one friend when he needed them most, and if he survived these ghosts, if I could somehow manage to find a way to stop them, he wouldn't ever be able to have Hari. Teenage hormones are very confusing. And things never go the way they do in books. I sighed again.

Hatori mirrored my sigh, I looked over at him curiously to find his gaze fixed somewhere far ahead of us. "I don't know what I feel for Ayame, Shigure. I know I want to protect him, from his father, from whatever else is out to hurt him. I don't know what that means."

"Do you believe this Hari? In all of this?" I asked him, redirecting the conversation, very neatly I might add.

"In all what? All this ghost stuff? Not really. But he doesn't lie… usually… If it hadn't been for what I saw yesterday I would have thought this morning was just another episode with his father. I don't know Shigure!" he almost growled in frustration. "And I hate not knowing."

"Yeah." I nodded in agreement. "Come on, we can get some more reading in before the library closes."

We hurried back to the library, where we tackled the stack of journals. Now we had something to search for it shouldn't take so long. Hopefully the woman who wrote these had been a woman who liked jewellery and described every piece she owed in perfect detail. I didn't hold out much hope, but it would have been nice.

Two hours passed in near silence between us. I was hoping Aya was faring alright with his father about the chain. And I hoped the ghosts wouldn't try to take him again.

"I do you know." Hari said cryptically, stirring me out of my thoughts.

"You do what?" I asked, flicking a few more pages, scanning for any mentions of a gold chain.

"Like him…"

That got my attention. "As in actually _like_ him, or just like him?" I questioned immediately. Major breakthrough in the romantic interest here. This is what I like to see!

Hari gave me a helpless smile. "I don't know. I've never thought about it before. But all of this… It's very confusing Shigure."

I smiled slightly. "I know." I told him kindly. "I can't help you figure it out though." I looked back at the journal.

Now, some may think that I was being a little harsh on Hari. But having one of these conversations with one of your best friends is not as easy as it seems. Hari's never really gave any thought to whether he liked Ayame, not really. Because I was already there and doing everything that could have helped him get it. Now, I didn't do it because I like Aya in that way or anything. Aya is my best friend, one whose had to put up with a lot in his life. I just try to make it easier. Hari's too logical to understand, and I'm too wound up to make sense. But, what can you do?

We stayed in the library until it closed nearly three hours after that, though we never mentioned it, we were both worried about Aya and what might happen tonight, if his talk with his father had gone alright.

It's past midnight and I'm still reading (yes, I am well aware that I have been writing this for well over an hour, but even I need a break ok!). We managed to convince the librarian to let us take the books out. Hari took half and I took half. I haven't found anything really concrete so far. There is a mention of a gold chain, a family heirloom, given to the wives when they marry into the family. But that doesn't explain how Aya's grandfather would end up with it if it was to go to the wives.

Sigh.

Horribly confusing.

Well, I'm going to finish this journal before getting some sleep. She has a kid now, just to point out a fact of insignificance. I'm too tired, I swear! I'm going, I'm going. Reading the damn journal!

_1._

_Some very strange things have been occurring recently, most of which involve my son he seems to be drawing shadows to him, almost humanlike ones. I do not know what I should do. Hiro has not seen the things I have, and so he does not believe nor understand. I would say we were haunted, and that on occasion my husband is possessed. For he has raised his hand to Kyo more than once recently, in a manner that made me afraid for my son._

_I do not understand what is happening. Perhaps tomorrow can shed some more light onto this horrid situation._

_2._

_How dare he do this! I swear if he lays a finger on Kyo again I shall take steps. No, that is not true, I cannot go against Hiro, but truly, how could he ever harm our child? The child we had together. None of this makes any sense. I have discover bruises on Kyo's neck, it looks like Hiro tried to strangle him. I would confront him, but I am not sure I would like to hear the response he gives._

_3._

_I asked Hiro what was going on, he brushed me off, told me to get ready for our party tonight. He wants Kyo to stay upstairs and not cause trouble. I cannot truly understand any of this. I had Kyo in ere with me while I got myself ready, he seems rather taken with that old chain Hiro gave me when were married. His mothers chain I believe. I have not worn it given the way she died, I get a shiver whenever I see it. Silly I know, to imagine the rust to be blood. I am surprised it survived the fire at all truly._

_But, my darling child wishes to play with them. If it keeps him quiet and away from Hiro for the moment I do not mind him having it._

_I must finish getting ready, the party will be starting soon. I hope I can find out what is going on soon, I cannot stand this strangeness._

_4._

_It is strange, Hiro has suddenly changed, practically overnight. Today he and Kyo were acting exactly just as they had before all this strangeness began. I have seen no shadows, everything is oddly lighter now, as if the shadows, the bruises, the strange behaviour, had never occurred. I do not understand how it happened, but I am glad it is over, and I hope it never returns!_

_Um... forgive me the slight crapness is all I ask._

_Now we have only two or three more parts to go, depending on whether my computer will allow me to type them up. so bare with me and we'll conclude this story soon._

_REVEIW!!!_


	6. Chapter 6

There are a few noticeabble changes in this chapter, the biggest one being I've jumped ahead in days. this does not mean we miss days, it is merely a representation of the confusionShigure is going through and his reluctence, or inabity to write down what happened. At any rate, that is why the start is also very scattered. We only have one more chapter and the epilogue to go now! Aren't you pleased! Read, review and enjoy.

_Day 7_

It's been two days… three days?… I don't know… I haven't been exactly… with it I suppose you could say. And you can't blame me. I mean, after what I've seen… what I've done…This has gone way beyond anything I have ever seen before, ever done before… Yes, I know, I'm not making any sense, but I can't help it. I don't even know what day it is anymore, I don't even know what really happened! I hate this. I should be relieved it's all over, but I… I don't know what I feel.

I suppose it's about time I should write down what happened. No point in telling everything so far and not telling the ending. But I'm just not really sure how to. I've been trying to make sense of it since it happened. Right, I suppose all I can do is put it in order and try to write it without it completely messing it up… Ok.

It was two, maybe three day's ago, I can't remember exactly, they seem to merge together on me. But, I had just found a few passages in one of the journals that made it seem that maybe that chain Aya was so obsessed with was important, that maybe it could help stop this. I had made my way over to Hari's again, to tell him what I had found. We discussed it, all of it. Depending on what Aya said when we went to get him would determine what we would do next. I was tired, that much was fairly obvious by the way I was yawning every five seconds. I had been up until almost four, and then sleep had been fairly elusive.

Hari had been watching me worriedly, not the full fledged concern I had seen on his face when Aya came to him covered in cuts and bruises, but enough to let me know he cared. "Maybe you should stay here." he suggested. "I'll go get Ayame."

I was about to protest, I really was, but he made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

"Just have a nap on the sofa, and I'll bring you some chocolate back." he smiled slightly.

And I was gone, I love chocolate, and Hatori always buys the best chocolate. However, I did make a last ditch effort. "Won't your parents be annoyed with me kipping out on your sofa?" I asked him.

He snorted at that. "They're out of town for the week Shigure, remember, I wouldn't let you have that party you wanted when they left?" he said.

I smiled at the memory, man had Hari been pissed that day. "Yeah… but maybe we could have one after this thing with Aya is sorted." I suggested, getting up from the kitchen table and heading towards the living room. Why did it seem so much easier to it as something we could beat when Aya wasn't there?

I almost missed the slight grimace/smile that crossed Hari's face. "Yeah, maybe." he turned away. "I'll go see if I can't break him out of prison."

I nodded, watching him go, before heading towards one of Hari's big comfortable sofa's. I had slept on them more than once, so I know just how comfortable they are… (heh, here I am talking about Hari's sofa's… it'd make you wonder). I settled down to have a quick nap. I don't know how long I slept for, but Ayame was there when I woke up, sitting on the floor beside me, curled up. He wasn't looking at me, just kind of staring off into space. There was a slight bruise of his head around the cut, but other than that he looked unharmed. And I was relieved.

"Aya?" I asked.

He looked at me and smiled. "Hey, Hari's gone to the shop, said he'd be back in a minute."

I nodded and sat up, ready to prompt him to tell me if he had found anything more. But he didn't seem to need it.

"I asked dad about grandfathers chain." he said.

"And?" I asked him, impatient suddenly, wondering if it coincided with what I had found.

"Dad said that Grandfather told him that the chain was important. That it protected the family. Dad says its all a load of rubbish."

The way he said it made it seem like he had walked in, asked his dad, his dad had answered him civilly and he had left. I new that wasn't what had happened. his dad had been suspicious. I could fairly guess at what had actually happened.

_Ayame hesitated outside the study door. If it wasn't completely necessary, if his own life hadn't been on the line--if his friends hadn't asked him, he would have avoided this room, and his father, at all costs. Before his courage gave out he raised a hand and knocked the door._

"_Enter."_

_Taking a deep breath he pushed open the door, his father looked up, a flash of annoyance swept his eyes. Ayame struggled to calm his nerves, as he normally had to d whenever he had to ask his father anything._

"_What is it Ayame?" his father asked, his voice disinterested._

"_Dad, can... Can I ask you a question?" he stuttered softly, trying desperately to think of some way to make it so his father wouldn't feel the need to lock him back in the basement._

"_Get on with it, I'm busy."_

"_Dad… you re… remember grandfathers chain?"_

_His father turned cold eyes to him. "What about it?"_

"_I remember uncle saying… something about it being im… important to him…" he swallowed, wondering why it was so difficult to say anything of great length to his father. "I was just just wondering why?" his nervousness grew at his fathers relentless stare and he fought back the urge to fidget._

"_Why?" his father asked coolly, never taking his eyes off his eldest son._

"_I was… just wondering…" Ayame almost whispered._

_His father studied him intently, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. "He used to say it was important, that it protected the family. Ha, a load of rubbish. But you knew all this, so why ask?" he leaned back, enjoying spark of fear that flashed across Ayame's face._

"_I forgot." Aya said, watching his father with sick dread, hoping he hadn't annoyed him too much._

"_But why ask now?"_

"_I… I…"_

"_Why did you want to know?"_

"_I… I…" Ayame hesitated, inching his way back towards the door._

"_Answer me!"_

"_I… I j… just…"_

"_Stop stuttering!" he father snapped angrily._

_Aya fell silent, waiting for the man to get up off his chair, stride over and land a stinging blow to his cheek, before grabbing his neck and taking him down to the basement. When nothing happened for a long moment he glanced up, to find his father regarding him with a cruel smile._

"_Get out."_

_Aya took the chance and hurried out of the room._

"Gure, you've got that look on your face again." Aya said, hitting my arm lightly.

I blinked at him. "What look?" I asked.

"The one that tells me your imagining and exaggerating on what I just said. I would just like to point out that he mostly ignored me." I have mentioned he can be remarkably perceptive at times right?

I didn't know how he had known. To cover my surprise I smiled disarmingly. "Oh really? If you say so."

He sighed, exasperated. "Why do you never believe me?"

Hari entered to room then, swinging a bag of sweet's. "Because your usually lying." he threw the bag at me. "So what do we know?"

"That Aya was probably right about the chain." I said, digging in the bag for the chocolate. "It's significant. Especially if it's the same one the woman in the fire owned. It must keep the ghost things at bay, protecting Aya's family through the ages. If we get the chain, put it on Aya, everything should be fine." I added a silent 'I hope', and I think the other two heard it anyway.

Hari considered it before nodding. "It's all we have to go on." he said finally

I glanced at Aya, who had stayed silent. His face had taken on the oddest mixture of confusion, incredulity and shock, that despite myself and the situation, my lips started to twitch.

"We have to what?" he asked, swallowing.

I knew this whole conversation was supposed to be serious. But we had been so serious these past few days, that I needed to laugh, so I did. Earning myself a glare from Hari who had taken a seat beside me. I vainly tried to stifle my laughter, but the look on Aya's face was just too priceless.

Hari sighed at me, exasperated. "We have to get the chain your grandfather wore." he said, as if Aya hadn't understood the implication earlier.

Ayame blinked at him, it just seemed like such a hilarious image. I did manage to hold my laughter back this time though.

"My grandfather was buried in that chain."

At Hari's part confused, part disgusted expression I couldn't control it anymore--I laughed. He elbowed me in the stomach. "Ow! Hari, what was that for?"

"Just shut up would you." he sighed. "You have to dig it up."

That stopped my laughter dead. "Shit!"

"guys, you can't just dig up my grandfathers grave! It's not right!" Aya said, wide eyed, staring after us as Hari and I got up from the sofa, already discussing the best time to head to the cemetery. I'll admit that this is not what I wanted to be doing on a Sunday evening, because it would have to be done this evening. But glancing back at Aya, who was sitting on the floor, looking at us wide eyed, picking at the bandage on his arm from the day before… There was no other choice.

I looked at Hari, who was also rearranging his thoughts on the matter, and coming to the same conclusion as I. He met my eyes and nodded.

I could just see us all now, standing in a big hole, digging, and digging…

_Well, he hadn't expected to end up digging up a corpse in the graveyard on a Sunday night. It was hardly something he had had pencilled in in his diary. But, all it stood here he was, with his two best friends, in a giant hole, digging his way down to find some old chain._

"_I hope you appreciate this Aya!" he muttered._

_Aya glanced over, pausing in his own digging. "I do…" he whispered._

_Shigure looked over at Aya, stifling a sigh before turning back to his work, jabbing the shovel in a little harder than he maybe should have._

"_Hari!" Aya let out a cry._

_Shigure turned, to find his friend, arm's pin wheeling, trying to stay standing upright, but he slipped forward. There was a sound of cracking wood and Aya went head first into the coffin. "Aya!" Shigure called, reaching out to pull Aya out, but spindly, half bone, half rotting flesh arms wrapped round Aya's back, dragging him in deeper. Hearing Hari's cry Shigure looked over to find his friend struggling to stay upright as a pair of skeletal hands wrapped around his ankles. In an instant he too was pulled down and into the coffin._

_Shigure barely had time to collect his frozen thoughts when he too felt a tug at his ankles, and found himself falling towards the coffin where his two friends had disappeared… Knowing, with all certainty, that his death was close…_

I have a horribly morbid imagination. If the romance writing career doesn't take off, I'm sure I could become a horror novelist… I have more than enough stuff to write about now… sigh… Anyway, on with the tale…

"Guys, I don't feel right doing this." Aya called to us.

I looked up at him. He was looking kind of green round the gills--the smell was pretty awful. But he was lucky, he was topside. Not down in the hole, somewhere above a rotting body. Hari had decided he couldn't help because of his arm. It had taken us from dusk to now… which was nearly midnight if my watch was telling the truth, to dig down to the coffin. I had to agree with Aya, it didn't really feel right digging up his grandfather, but it was for a good cause.

"We need to get that chain Ayame." Hari said, he was studying the coffin we were trying not to stand on carefully.

"But it's my grandfathers coffin… We'll be taking something from the dead. It doesn't feel right. I don't like it, and what if it doesn't even work!"

He was babbling.

We ignored him.

This was another part of him that annoyed me sometimes. He always, if we ever did anything for him (granted we'd never dug up his grandfathers body to get a chain that could possibly save his life before, but other things), babbled. And his babbling normally consisted of how he wasn't good enough for it, or not being worth it. I'm not talking about stuff like presents, because he loves them… but other things, like looking after him if his father hurt him, or that time he fell in the lake on a school trip and refused to take one of our coats, because he didn't want us to be cold, and he would be fine. That he wasn't worth the fact that we might get a little chilly.

Sometimes I wonder if he even realises that we wouldn't be his friends if he wasn't worth it in the end.

"Nothing else for it." Hari muttered, bringing me out of my thoughts, taking his shovel and smashing it through the rotting wood, until I could see a disgusting black sludgy thing inside. I dimly heard Aya retching somewhere above me. My nose wrinkled and I tried to hold my breath, fighting back the urge to throw up myself.

"Get it out!" Hari ordered me, turning his head away.

I looked at him, my eyes wide and my mouth hanging opened. He wanted me to put my hand into a coffin, to pick out a golden chain, which was actually not covered in black goop from around a corpse's neck?

The most surprising thing?

I did.

Without a single word of complaint.

"I really hope you appreciate this Aya!" I yelled up, holding the chain at arms length. When he didn't answer immediately I frowned upwards. "Aya!" I called.

Hari looked at me, and as one we started to scrambled out of the hole and up to the grass, to find no sign of Ayame.

"Ayame!" Hari yelled.

I didn't like this, not one bit!

"--no--" I dimly heard. "Hari! Gure! I don't want to--" it was choked off, but I knew who it was, what it was and why it was--all I needed to know was where.

"Hari, where is that ghost house?" I asked, my voice a growl.

The look on Hari's face was one I was sure I was wearing myself, a mixture of fear and anger. Fear for Aya, anger at not being able to protect him. He pointed to our right and I took off running, clutching the chain tightly, hoping we would be in time to save him…

_Oh... a cliff hanger, good and proper. Will Aya be ok? Can Shigure and Hatori reach him in time?_

_Oh, yeah, about the goop thing in the coffin, I have no idea how long it takes for a body to rot, but for all intents and purposes it takes 17 ears to get to that stage in this story. And yes, I am aware it isn't likely that they would actually go digging up a grave, but suspend your disblief for this one please. Next part coming soon._


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: Own Nothing_

_Well, here I am folks, back and finishing the story. finally. So read, and enjoy, and consider it your slightly late Halloween treat._

Day 7-cont

As we ran towards the ghost house, Aya's silence frightened me, even more than had he been screaming for us. Because even screaming in pain or fear (though I never once wished it on him) would mean that he was alive, and would give us some direction to go in. I mean, what if they had taken him in the complete opposite direction? We would never know. Or what if we got there too late? Or when we got there we couldn't find him on time?

There were just so many things that could go wrong, and as I ran, each one raced through my mind, but each ended in exactly the same way.

Shigure pulled hard at the door. It was the last place they could possibly try, hidden beneath years worth of weeds and vines, a big heavy rusted doorway, impossible to move, but there was nowhere else, Ayame had to be here. Hatori lent his strength to the task, and after some time, the hinges, groaning, turned and the door opened, but only a crack, not big enough to get through.

Shigure, being closer, pressed to the crack and peered into the dim room beyond, only to have his heart sink so low in his chest, and his eyes widen as he realised—

"Shigure?" Hatori asked, tugging his arm. "Is he there?"

Hatori was worried too; was afraid. And he was right to be. Shigure steadied himself, made it impossible for Hatori to pull him aside. He would try to spare his friend this. "Stop Hari." He whispered, barely heard. But Hatori did not stop tugging, like he knew just what Shigure had seen in the rom. "Hatori STOP!" he yelled, his voice cracking.

"Shigure?" 

Shigure could hear the fear, the denial, the question in that utterance of his name, and he hated it, hated that he couldn't offer some kind of reassurance. But his eyes remained riveted to the scene before him.

Ayame lay, his body crumpled on the ground, his long silver hair fanned about him, tinged dark red by the blood pooling around him, his skin pale, almost translucent in the flickering of a few candles, candles that shouldn't have been there; just as Aya shouldn't have been there.

They had been too late.

The chain dropped from his fingers to fall soundlessly to the floor.

Clearing my head of such thoughts was impossible, each idea that formed became progressively worse and worse, each death I envisioned became darker, and each time we arrived too late and Aya died alone, never knowing we were coming. I didn't even want to think about what Aya was going through right now. Desperate I put on an extra burst of speed. I knew Hari was keeping pace, I knew he was just as worried as me, possibly more so.

The chain dug painfully into my hand, freezing cold despite how hot my hand was. We came into view of the ghost house, it seemed almost solid now, dark and foreboding.

Ayame was unable to move, paralysed by fear. The chanting that had haunted his dreams, his nights, was rising around him; drowning out any attempt he made at calling for help. His skin was turning cold, and the small dancing lights of the hundreds of candles that encircled him swayed tauntingly before him. He was huddled as much as he could be, staring at the knife laid out on the floor in front of him, half expecting it to move of it's own accord towards him.

The chanting grew into a drone, and as one, the hooded figures drew closer. The air seemed to seep from the room until Ayame couldn't breathe. The candles continued to flicker, untouched. He gasped and curled up tighter, closing his eyes.

He didn't want to see this.

He could feel them coming closer, ever closer, and any warmth inside him vanished. Finally, compelled by something outside of his control his eyes opened, to find the blade he had been staring at before in front of him, held by one of the robed figures. Fuelled by fear he scrambled back, only to find his way blocked by those who crowded ever closer. The Knife moved towards him.

He threw his hands up in terror, a scream ripping from his throat.

We had stopped at the entrance to the dark house, unsure if we could even enter, afraid to, in case it vanished, taking Aya with it. When a scream, unlike any I have ever heard before reached us.

"This way!" Hatori called, and without waiting to see if I would follow he ran straight into the dark house, through the closed door, proving that it wasn't real. I followed, feeling cold wash over me as I entered, and looking round desperately for Hari, who ad vanished from my sight. My fingers tightened even more around the chain.

"Hari!" I called.

"Here! Shigure hurry!"

I followed his voice as quickly as I could and found him at the top of some stone stairs, that looked old and overgrown, obviously the only part of the original house left. The scream had ended quickly, but I was sure I could hear echoes of it echoing up the stairwell. It looked far to close to what I had imagined as we had run here. And I was honestly terrified to go down.

"Hari… What if he…" I swallowed hard.

Hatori glared at me darkly. "We don't have time for this Shigure!" he snapped and turned, disappearing down the stairs.

I stood at the top, frozen, and hating myself for it. The chain felt heavy and colder than ever in my hand, the echoes only I could hear growing louder in my ears until something in me snapped. I don't know what or how, but I found myself moving down the stairs after Hatori. Not stopping until I found him at a heavy looking door, straining to pull it open. Without stopping to think about it I pulled with him until the door groaned open slightly.

A rush of noise and dusty air greeted us, making us choke.

Chanting filled the dark corridor behind us, and as we struggled to pull the door open further, wide enough to get through ourselves. But over even the chanting we could hear Ayame, sounds I can't even begin to describe.

Somehow we managed to pull the door open wider. Hatori slipped through first, and I followed quickly, afraid the door would slam shut and leave me outside, and as I had the chain that would not have been a good thing.

Before us was a circle of candles, and in the centre was Ayame, looking pale, but thankfully alive. I could not see anything else I the room, but the chanting was loud, and there were many voices, and there was a feeling of many people there. Hatori was moving, either he wasn't aware of the chanting, or the presence of ghosts, or getting to Aya was just that much more important. I was no more than a split second behind him, hoping against hope that the ghosts couldn't hurt us, couldn't stop us helping Aya.

As I got closer the chanting became more intense, louder, more distracting. Hari was kneeling beside Aya, trying to staunch the flow of blood from his arms. As I got closer the air got more and more difficult to breathe in, until by the time I was actually beside Aya I was struggling for breath. I dropped to my knees beside my friend, and with what felt like a great effort, I opened my hand to show Hari the chain, knowing he would take it and put it on Aya.

The chanting turned darker, angrier, and I knew they were going to hurt us, and I could only hope that it would work, that putting the chain on Aya would stop them before we all ended up dead.

Then everything just stopped, and there was complete silence around us, and I could breathe again. I looked at Hari, only to find him cradling Aya. And Aya looked…


	8. Epilogue

_Disclaimer: Own Nothing_

_Well, here I am folks, back and finishing the story. finally. So read, and enjoy, and consider it your slightly late Halloween treat. last chapter. rememer to review!_

Epilogue

"That's crap!" Kyo snapped, glaring across the table at Yuki, who was staring at the book in his hands, a sort of sick look on his face.

Momiji stood up, bouncing slightly, a nervous smile on his face. "Now Kyo Kyo! I think it was a really good story."

"Who say's it's a story?" Haru asked, his voice bored, but he was watching Yuki carefully, frowning thoughtfully.

Kyo snorted. "It's all crap! I mean come on! You know what Shigure's like."

Everyone in town knew what Shigure was like, the slightly eccentric romance novelist, close friend of the town's doctor (whose house they were currently in), and Yuki's older brother. They all knew he was well known for his wild stories and pranks. This book could be just that, a prank and a wild story. After all, none of them knew anything about the events described, and they had all been seven when they had occurred.

Yuki just stared at the book. When they had found it he had started reading, just because it had been entitled 'Curse', and as it was Halloween and the others had demanded a horror story. But there was something about the story that rang true. He remembered before he turned eight his parents had always been rather cold towards Ayame, but over the last year before Ayame had turned eighteen and had moved out, things had been improving between them. Now that Ayame lived away from the house and in town with Hari relations between all of them had improved.

And Ayame had suddenly started wearing a chain, all the time, no matter what anyone said about him, and never took it off, never.

"Hey! Boys! We come bearing goodies!" Shigure called, letting himself into the house, shaking a bag of sweets around. The sound of Hatori sighing followed soon afterwards. The two came into the living room, where the four boys were seated on the floor around the coffee table. Shigure looked at them all, his eyes alighting on the book Yuki held. "Ha! I thought you threw that out Hari?" e laughed.

Hatori looked over, and coloured slightly with a blush. "Well… oh shut up Shigure."

Shigure smiled, an understanding smile, before he poked his head back out to the hall where the door was just closing. "Hey, Aya! You'll never guess what Hari kept!"

Ayame appeared at the back of the group, frowning lightly as he tried to see what Shigure meant. His face broke into his trademarked smile, wide and happy and he threw his arms around Hatori's neck and delivered a sloppy kiss to his cheek, which made the boys groan, except Momiji, who just smiled (living with the two did desensitise one to this sort of display). "You're so sweet Hari." Aya said, giving the boys a wave before continuing on towards the kitchen.

Shigure made his way to the sofa and sat. "Well, what did you think of it?" he asked.

Kyo snorted, but made no comment.

"Is it true?" Yuki asked. "I mean, everything, about my parents as well? And a curse?" he looked hopelessly confused.

"Your parents…" Shigure began, looking to Hatori for help.

Hatori sighed. "Yes, that's one thing Shigure didn't embellish on. They really did treat Ayame like that. The rest," he shrugged. "You can believe it or you can chose not to." He too left the room to follow Ayame to the kitchen.

Shigure shrugged helplessly, throwing the bag of sweets on the table. "Sorry boys, enjoy." And he hurried after his friends, leaving four confused teens in his wake. He reached the kitchen to find Ayame leaning back against Hatori, fingering the gold chain wrapped three times round his thin wrist. "Everything ok?" he asked, a little worried; after all, that book housed each of their worst memories.

Aya smiled at him. "Fine 'Gure, just surprised is all." He glanced at Hatori.

Hatori shrugged and avoided their questioning eyes. "It was an important time, throwing it out just wasn't a real option."

Shigure nodded in agreement. Thinking back, remembering that time, those last moments in the cold stone basement of that house, the author could only be glad it had turned out how it had. The spirits following Aya were not gone completely, even today, ten years later, Aya still got a wary look about him when one of those cloaked figures appeared to him, but they could no longer touch him, and their influence had begun to fade slowly. With any luck, it would completely fade away soon, not to be forgotten, but hopefully the fear would go completely.


End file.
